Psychologist and mental health blogger Elisha Goldstein quotes a favorite author of mine, Don Miguel Ruiz, in his post “4 Steps to Getting Free from Limiting Beliefs”: “You see everything is about belief, whatever we believe rules our existence, rules our life.” I’ve been using Ruiz’s book, “The Four Agreements,” to help me process the...
The self-defeating thoughts that accompany depression are among the most painful elements of the illness. When I’m in the thick of the darkness, I can’t see anything remotely positive about myself. I concentrate solely on my weaknesses. The other day I wrote down some affirmations to say when I’m in this place, to remind myself of my value even...
For their book, “The Wisdom of Failure,” authors Laurence G. Weinzimmer and Jim McConoughey interviewed 1,000 managers and leaders on one of my favorite topics: failure. The results comprise a fascinating volume on the benefits of blunders. Here’s some insight into their book. What can understanding failure teach both seasoned and aspiring leaders that they...
In Luke’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples this parable: A widow begs a crooked judge for a just sentence against her adversary. After lots of badgering and nagging, the judge says, “Dang, Lady, I’m tired of you. I’ll send your guy to jail if you leave me alone.” The judge is afraid that if he...
As a graduate student pursuing a degree in theology twelve years ago, I took a course called Systematic Theology–by far my toughest class–by a brilliant professor who was dying of bone marrow cancer. No one knew she was dying. She kept her diagnosis to herself and, as best as she could, covering up her chemotherapy...
